AN: Hello lovely readers! I'm back with this chapter! Thank you for all your reviews, follows and favorites! They just make me so happy! Also, you have given me over 300 reviews and that is just amazing to me! I would bake you all cookies as a thank you, if I could! This chapter didnt turn out as wonderful as I had hoped and its on the short side. But I hope it gives a little more insight into the struggles that Caroline and Lizzie will face while they are apart. I hope you all enjoy! Thanks for reading!
Caroline sits between Enzo and Bonnie on the plane, fidgeting. She's biting her nails and her gaze keeps shifting from the window to the front of the plane.
"Care, please relax." Bonnie begs, pulling Caroline's hand away from her face and holding it on the armrest.
"I didn't know you possessed a fear of flying, Gorgeous." Enzo comments, as he makes eyes at the pretty flight attendant.
"I don't. I'm just rethinking everything. I shouldn't have left Lizzie. She needs me as much as I need her." Caroline begins to ramble. "This was a bad idea. I think we"
Caroline never gets to finish her sentence as Enzo swiftly snaps her neck with one hand.
"Enzo!" Bonnie screeches. Bonnie looks around to make sure no one saw what happened. "Not only is Caroline going to be pissed when she wakes up, but how do we explain this?" Bonnie is livid and trying her best to hold back her magic.
"You and I both know that Caroline needs this time away. But she was getting all crazy. She would have caused a scene." Enzo explains.
"And you snapping her neck isn't causing a scene?" Bonnie whispers harshly.
"No, as long as you drop it." Enzo turns away from Bonnie to the approaching flight attendant. "Hello there, sweetheart." The flight attendant blushes as she focuses on Enzo. "My friend here" Enzo points to Caroline. "Took a sedative and passed out on us. Could we get a pillow and blanket to make her more comfortable, Jessica?" Enzo drawls out, reading the young woman's name tag.
"Of course," Jessica pauses and looks at Enzo expectantly.
"Enzo."
"I'll be right back with that for your friend, Enzo." Jessica smiles and Enzo winks at her.
Bonnie turns back to the window, puts her earbuds in and grumbles. "This is going to be a long flight."
"Daddy, has mama called yet?" Lizzie asks for the seventeenth time since Caroline left New Orleans less than three hours ago.
Klaus sighs. "No, Elizabeth. She has not called yet. I promised you I would let you know when she calls." Some of Klaus' frustration melts when he looks at his sweet little daughter. "Lizzie, you have some time before bed, why don't you go watch a movie and the time will pass quickly. Your mom is probably on the plane and can't call you yet." Klaus reasons with the seven year old.
Lizzie looks at her dad suspiciously, but nods and turns on the TV. She plunks down on the couch next to Klaus and flips on some princess movie that is already halfway done. Klaus glances at Lizzie, and how she seems so focused on the movie, but her eyes drift to his phone every few minutes.
"Fine, I will text her again." Klaus relents. He apologizes in his text, as it is the fifth one he has sent her since she left.
Another fifteen minutes into the movie, Lizzie turns to face Klaus. She leans into him, stealing a peek at his phone. "Has she-"
"No." Klaus grunts, interrupting his daughter. He can barely contain his irritation and is debating having some hybrids locate and kidnap Caroline. Klaus does not know how Lizzie will survive Caroline being gone for a year, when she asks every ten minutes to talk to her.
"Oh, ok." Lizzie shies away and wraps her arms around herself.
Klaus huffs and stands up. "I'll go try to call her, ok?"
A bright smile graces Lizzie's face. "Thank you, Daddy. You're the best!"
Klaus shakes his head and steps into his studio. He quickly presses Caroline's speed dial button and prays to whatever being out there that Caroline actually answers. He hears a click and a soft voice answer. "Hello?"
"Caroline?" Klaus can tell that it wasn't Caroline who answered and now he is concerned.
"Klaus." The voice takes on a more irritated tone and he recognizes it as Bonnie Bennett.
"I need to speak with Caroline. Why are you answering her phone?" Klaus growls into his phone.
Bonnie sighs and looks over at her temporarily dead friend. "She's unavailable at the moment."
"Explain yourself, Bennett." Klaus is gripping his phone tightly, while pacing around his studio.
"Ok, first of all we are still on the plane to Boston." Bonnie says in an angry tone. "But, also Enzo kind of snapped Caroline's neck." Bonnie rushes through the last part, worried that the entire plane will hear Klaus' reaction.
"He did what?" Klaus asks with a dangerously low tone of voice.
"Enzo snapped Caroline's neck." Bonnie says it quiet enough that she doesn't draw any unwanted attention from the other passengers, but loud enough for Enzo to hear her.
"Put him on the phone." Klaus' barely contained rage comes out in such a way that Bonnie can almost feel it radiating through the phone. She turns to Enzo, with a sweet innocent smile. "Klaus wants to talk to you."
Enzo takes the phone and inhales deeply. "Klaus, mate. How are things since we left?"
"What kind of friend are you? Snapping Caroline's neck? She will not be subjected to this kind of treatment from her so-called friends." Klaus growls at Enzo.
"I'm the kind of friend who looks out for Caroline. She was freaking out and was ready to ditch our plans because she missed Lizzie. I'm the kind of friend that puts Caroline's happiness and needs first." Enzo replies smugly.
Klaus lets what Enzo said sink in for a moment. Caroline was having second thoughts about leaving. A small smile came to his face. Even if her reluctance was because of Lizzie, it didn't matter. A part of Caroline wanted to stay. "Tell her to call me when she wakes up. It doesn't matter what time it is. Lizzie needs to hear from her mother." Klaus sneers and hangs up his phone.
Caroline jolts awake and Bonnie quickly muffles Caroline's mouth with her hand. "Hey Care. I'm sure you are pissed right now, but remember we are still on the airplane. Don't kill him yet."
Caroline sighs and nods. Both women know that Caroline could have physically removed Bonnie's hand without even blinking, but she chose to listen. Both women turn to Enzo and glare daggers at him.
"Gorgeous, you're awake. We're just about to land." Enzo smiles as if he wasn't the reason for Caroline's extra-long nap.
"Enzo, please remind your friend that she needs to put her seat in the upright position." Jessica flirts as she brushes Enzo's shoulder.
A mischievous glint appears in Caroline's eyes. "Friend?" Caroline looks over at Enzo and places her hand on his upper thigh. "Sweetie, have you been flirting with this nice flight attendant while I was sleeping?" Enzo gulps and Jessica looks from Caroline's hand to Enzo's face to Caroline's face. "We're more than friends, so just run along." Caroline dismisses Jessica and levels Enzo with a stare. Bonnie chokes back her giggles as she watches the frustration on Enzo's face.
"She was going to be my late night snack, gorgeous. I wasn't even going to have to compel her." Enzo whines., peeling Caroline's hand off his thigh.
"Too bad. I packed some blood bags. You can have one of those." Caroline knew she was being petty, but she was mad that he resorted to snapping her neck when she just needed a few minutes to calm down.
"Oh, and gorgeous, you need to call your boyfriend. He's been quite insistent while you were sleeping."
As Caroline waits for her bags, she steps away from Bonnie and Enzo who are arguing, as usual. She pulls out her phone and sighs as she calls Klaus.
"Caroline?" Klaus asks, in an uneasy tone.
"Yeah, it's me. I heard you have been trying to reach me." Caroline turns told watch Bonnie inconspicuously give Enzo a small aneurism.
Klaus breaths out a sigh of relief. "Yes, well. I was hoping to have reached you earlier."
"Enzo was being a friend in his own way. I guess." Caroline takes a seat and watches the people flowing through the Boston airport. "Is everything ok with Lizzie? I assumed that's why you needed to talk to me."
"Everything is fine with Lizzie." Klaus replies, with an air of annoyance. "She has just been incessant about you calling her. Every five minutes, at least."
Caroline lets out a little giggle. "I'm sorry. Is she still awake?"
Klaus shakes his head at hearing Caroline's amusement. "No, she finally crashed about two hours ago. I'm almost positive she expects you to call on a daily basis."
"Oh, well. Have her call me in the morning before school."
"I will. I don't think I will have a choice."
"And maybe we should look into getting her a cheap simple phone. So I don't always tie up your line when I talk to Lizzie." Caroline suggests. She doesn't mind talking to Lizzie every day, but she feels bad always having to use Klaus' line.
"I don't mind." Klaus says automatically. He refuses to give up getting to talk to Caroline daily, just so his minions have full access to reach him at all times. "It's not a problem, really. I like getting to talk you, Caroline." Klaus admits.
Caroline sighs quietly. "Fine, I can keep calling on this number. Please have Lizzie call me in the morning. I need to get my bags and we need to check in at a hotel or something." Caroline begins to walk to the baggage claim.
"Ok, Caroline. Have a good night."
"Good night Klaus." Caroline hangs up and approaches her friends who are watching her carefully, as they have finally run out of things to argue about for the moment.
"And how is the almighty king of New Orleans?" Enzo asks as he hands Caroline one of her bags. He holds the other one for her like a gentleman.
The three begin their walk out of the airport. "Lizzie was driving him nuts asking if I had called. Obviously, I hadn't because someone felt it necessary for me to take a little nap." Caroline glares at Enzo.
"I already apologized. I'm not sure what else you want from me. I did it for you." Enzo smiles charmingly
"Yeah, yeah. You're an amazing friend." Bonnie comments sarcastically. "I have an extra room at my apartment and a couch." Bonnie glares at Enzo. "You guys can stay with me and then I will introduce you around tomorrow, Care." Bonnie explains and Caroline nods. She is so emotionally exhausted, she might have agreed to do a human sacrifice, if it meant getting to shut her mind down for a bit.
Caroline falls asleep the second her head touches the pillow. Despite having her neck snapped and being dead for a couple of hours, she needed rest. Being temporarily dead wasn't exactly restful. A shrill ringing wakes Caroline up with a start and she thinks if she still had a beating heart, she might have had a mini heart attack. Caroline blinks her eyes a few times and stares at Klaus' name on her phone. Then her memory catches up with her. Lizzie is still in New Orleans with Klaus. Lizzie. It's Lizzie calling! "Hello." Caroline's voice is still groggy, but she didn't want to miss this call.
"Mama?" Lizzie's tearful voice echoes in Caroline's head.
"Hi baby girl. How are you?" Caroline smiles because she knows this will be the most important conversation of the day for her.
"I missed you last night. Why didn't you call?" Lizzie asks and Caroline can tell that Lizzie is a mix of mad and worried.
"I couldn't call from the plane. I called when we landed, but your dad said you had already fallen asleep." Caroline heard Lizzie sigh softly and she knew that Lizzie wasn't upset anymore. "Are you already for school this morning?" Caroline spent the next ten minutes listening to Lizzie ramble on about going to school and what things she was going to get to do with Hayley once her homework was finished.
"Oh and Auntie Rebekah did my hair this morning. She said it looks like how she used to wear her hair centuries ago. But I can't tell that to the people at school. Uncle Kol says I look like a princess he knew once." Lizzie explains.
"I bet you look lovely. I hope you thanked Aunt Rebekah for doing your hair so nicely." Caroline reminds her daughter.
"Yeah, I did. Oh, I'm going to ask daddy to take a picture and send it to you. Ok?" Lizzie exclaims.
Caroline laughs at her daughter. "Ok, sweetie."
"Hayley says I have to go to school now. I love you, mama."
"I love you too. Have a good day. I'll talk to you later." Caroline waits to hang up until she has heard the click from the other line. She puts her phone down to get out of bed and get her stuff ready for a shower. Her phone dings and she sneaks a peek at the picture Klaus sent her. Lizzie's hair really does look amazing and she is just beaming. It gives Caroline a little reassurance that Lizzie will learn a lot from her family and she will be well taken care of, as long as they shield her from the horrors of the supernatural for now.